Unité de Recherche sur Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes, Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherche pour Développement, Faculté de Médecine, Aix-Marseille Université, 27 Bd Jean Moulin, 13005 Marseille, France.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2012 Jan 23;10(3):227-34. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro2729.
Cellulolytic enzymes have been the subject of renewed interest owing to their potential role in the conversion of plant lignocellulose to sustainable biofuels. An analysis of ∼1,500 complete bacterial genomes, presented here, reveals that ∼40% of the genomes of sequenced bacteria encode at least one cellulase gene. Most of the bacteria that encode cellulases are soil and marine saprophytes, many of which encode a range of enzymes for cellulose hydrolysis and also for the breakdown of the other constituents of plant cell walls (hemicelluloses and pectins). Intriguingly, cellulases are present in organisms that are usually considered as non-saprophytic, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Legionella pneumophila, Yersinia pestis and even Escherichia coli. We also discuss newly emerging roles of cellulases in such non-saprophytic organisms.
由于其在将植物木质纤维素转化为可持续生物燃料方面的潜在作用，纤维素酶再次成为人们关注的焦点。本文对约 1500 个完整细菌基因组的分析表明，约 40%的测序细菌基因组至少编码一个纤维素酶基因。编码纤维素酶的大多数细菌是土壤和海洋腐生菌，其中许多细菌编码一系列用于纤维素水解的酶，也编码用于植物细胞壁其他成分（半纤维素和果胶）分解的酶。有趣的是，纤维素酶存在于通常被认为是非腐生的生物体中，如结核分枝杆菌、嗜肺军团菌、鼠疫耶尔森菌，甚至大肠杆菌。我们还讨论了纤维素酶在这些非腐生生物中的新出现的作用。
